Wednesday, 29 May 2013

And so we come to the end of Zombicide month. It made a pleasant change to have a themed month.
I am still busy painting the last 25 zombies from my Victory Force Zombie Horde 1, although I expect to finish them soon and that will give me 100 zombies to review, which is far too many to review in one go. I am currently thinking of doing ten reviews of 10 figures or five reviews of 20 figures. Any preferences?
Work on my Stoelzel's 28mm scale Brummie's Burgers fast food restaurant is progressing at a slow pace due to me making the furniture items and props before I make the building. This isn't my normal card modelling procedure, but I just fancied a change to the way I do things. Mind you, I have started work on the car park that comes with the restaurant. Prior to starting this project I did wonder whether to include the car park or not, as you can just as easily make the restaurant as a free-standing building. In the end, I decided that the car park was a part of the set and so needed to be made. It also makes an excellent surround to the building.
In other news, I received the first of the three Kickstarter packages that I supported these past 8 months or so. My two big pledges (about £250.00 each) were for the Reaper Bones figures and for Zombicide Season 2. I'm expecting both of them to arrive later this year. In between backing those, I also supported the Zombie Plague board-game by RSquared Studios. Two weeks ago, I received the game board, counters, rulebook and comic and 28mm scale figures of the four survivors. The zombie figures that I ordered will be sent out later. The new figures are a vast improvement on the ones that were originally created for this simple but fun game. I'll admit that I mainly backed this project so that I could get the figures. I'll review the four new survivors as soon as I get them painted. Further incentive to finish painting my Victory Force zombies.
Finally, I'll leave you with another heart-warming story about the generosity of our fellow gamers. Two months ago, I was contacted by Anton, a German follower who wanted me to proofread a set of alternate rules he had written for Zombicide, stating that his English wasn't too good. Now, you may not know this, but I did a course in proofreading in the past, so I was happy to help him. It only took one afternoon to proofread his work and I sent it back to him. He was delighted with the results and promised to reward me with a gift. Well, I'd have happily done the work for free. I had no idea what to expect. At the beginning of this month I received a very large parcel from Anton. Inside were loads of goodies. The bulk of the parcel was made up of Warhammer 40,000 ruined buildings, some pre-made but not painted and the rest still on their sprues. There was a lot of them. In addition were two large Warhammer 40,000 plastic craters, a bunch of 25mm diameter resin bases, six plastic zombies from the old Heroquest game, a metal giant's head (I've no idea what to do with that) and a box of After Eight mints, which I shared with my mum. Quite a haul, huh? I have no doubt who got the better half of this deal! Anton, if you're reading this, my deepest thanks to you, once again.

Sunday, 26 May 2013

Having spent all of this month reviewing the figures that came with the Zombicide board-game, it is now time to review the game itself. The rulebook measures a mere 28 pages and only half of them are taken up with the rules, meaning it is very easy to learn. The rulebook is in full colour throughout and littered with excellent examples of how the game works. I'm going to show some of those examples here, to give you a flavour of the game.
The game can be played by 1-6 players (Yay, it allows for solo play!). Each player controls one or more of the six survivors provided. The survivors are initially armed with one crowbar, one fire axe and one pistol - that's per group not per player. Note that if Phil is amongst your group he starts with his own pistol. Those who didn't receive one of the three weapons are given a pan as a rather sorry consolation prize. Not much use but better than nothing. Don't worry too much about this, as the survivors are allowed to acquire extra weapons and equipment from a deck of equipment cards whenever they search a room. However, only one search is allowed per turn by each player.

The above illustration explains the character ID card. At the top of the card is a colour-coded bar for keeping track of the number of zombies your survivor kills. Characters advance in skill as they progress from one colour to the next. When you reach the orange and red levels you get to choose what skill you want from those listed. At the bottom right of the card is space for placing your weapons and equipment. You are allowed a total of five weapon or equipment cards but only two can be used at a time. the other three are held in reserve.

The game board is divided up into zones, not all of which are the same size. Indoors, each room is a zone. Outdoors, each area of road between two zebra crossings is a zone. It costs a survivor or zombie 1 Action Point (AP) to move from one zone to an adjacent zone. Diagonal movement is not allowed. Survivors start with 3AP, whilst most zombies start with 1AP.
These are the actions available to the survivors and each one costs 1AP.MOVE Move 1 zone.SEARCH Indoors only and as previously mentioned, one Search per turn by each survivor.OPEN A DOOR Special equipment needed. Note that doors only appear on the outsides of buildings.REORGANISE INVENTORY Equipment exchange with another survivor (if in the same zone) is permitted.RANGED COMBAT An equipped ranged weapon is required.HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT An equipped hand-to-hand weapon is required. GET IN OR OUT OF A CAR If allowed by the scenario.TAKE AN OBJECTIVE TOKEN or ACTIVATE AN OBJECT Only if in the survivor's zone.MAKE A NOISE Gotta need it to risk it.DO NOTHING And live with it.
The illustration above also details the rules for Line of Sight

Hand-to-hand combat and ranged combat are similar in that you roll to hit according to the Accuracy score on your weapon card. Walkers and Runners are killed by any weapon doing 1 or more points of damage, whilst Fatties can only be killed by weapons doing 2 or more points of damage. The Abomination is the hardest zombie to kill as it requires 3 or more points of damage to destroy it. The big difference between hand-to-hand combat and ranged combat comes in the target acquisition. In hand-to-hand combat a survivor may target any type of zombie in the same zone as him or her. However, in ranged combat there is a target priority that must be adhered to. It goes Survivor, Walker, Fatty (or Abomination) then Runner. So if you are shooting into a zone containing another Survivor, a Walker and two Runners, you'd have to shoot the survivor first. Yes, that is brutal! Then you'd have to kill the Walker before you can even think about shooting those two Runners.
The illustration above explains all the icons on two of the weapon cards. Killing a zombie earns you one Kill Point, unless it is the Abomination, which grants you 5 Kill Points.

Once the players have activated all of their survivors in a turn it is time for the zombies to activate. They have three phases per turn - attack, move and spawn. A zombie can only attack a survivor in the same zone. They do not roll to hit. Each attack automatically causes one wound. And each wound causes the victim to lose one item from his collection. All survivors have two wounds, so the second wound is always certain death. Fortunately, the players can decide who takes the wound(s), if there are more than one survivor in that zone.
Zombies who did not attack move. Each zombie favours visible survivors then noise. Zombies choose the shortest distance to their target. If needed, they split the group and add an extra zombie of the appropriate type to make both groups equal. This is a nasty little rule!
Each scenario has a number of spawn points on the board. For each spawn
point, you draw one card from the zombie spawn deck and place the amount
of zombies listed on the spawn point according to the player with the highest danger level, i.e.
most kills.The illustration above shows a typical spawn card.

Some of the spawn cards are special events like the one shown above. This is, in my opinion, the worst card in the spawn deck, as it allows Runners far too much movement.
Note that spawn cards are drawn whenever a survivor opens a door to an unsearched building. Every room in that buildings requires a spawn card to be drawn. Friendly tip - try to open the doors to all the buildings whilst all of the survivors are in the blue danger zone. That way you get far fewer zombies to deal with.

Finally, here is Phil's ID card as he might appear mid-game. Despite losing a wound he is still in good shape thanks to his combination of cards.
The game provides rules for cars, but they only appear in a few scenarios. There are 11 scenarios listed in the rulebook, including an introductory scenario to help newbies become familiar with the rules. Additional scenarios can be downloaded from the Guillotine Games website - http://guillotinegames.com/en/ Check under the Game Stuff tab.
So, verdict? Come on, you all know that I love this game! I played a few solo games and picked up the rules very quickly. When my friend Mathyoo came to stay with me a short while ago, we became addicted to the game and we played 8 of the 11 scenarios over three days (scenarios 03, 04 and 05 were the ones we didn't play). We won every scenario on the first attempt except for scenario 07 Grind-house, which we played three times before securing victory. A word of advice, try to keep your party as close together at all times and remember to co-operate with one another. The first time we played Grind-house we split into two groups of three and my party got wiped out on turn 3! It went downhill from there.
Normally, I am not a fan of zombie runners or creatures like the Abomination, but in Zombicide, they have their place and actually enhance the game. Kudos to the game designers for pulling that one off!
If you already own the game and have played it, you have to agree that it is a lot of fun to play. I bought my copy at Amazon.co.uk for £66.99 but having checked there this morning I see it is currently out of stock.
I am counting down the days to September when Zombicide 2 is released and I can get my hands on all of the goodies I ordered on the Kickstarter project. It was a lot!

Wednesday, 22 May 2013

When I was photographing my Zombicide figures I knew that I'd be asked for a size comparison photo. So I took one with the four zombie types from the Zombicide board-game alongside survivor types from an assortment of figure companies. If you are wondering about the Zombicide survivors, they are the same size as the zombie Walker. Do bear in mind that the Zombicide figures are not mounted on circular plastic slottabases so they appear to be a couple of millimetres smaller than the others.

Moving from left to right we have -
Copplestone Castings Dark Future Militia Trooper, or as we all know him - Vampifan.
Zombicide zombie Walker.
Foundry Figures Wrecking Crew gang member with crowbar.
Zombicide zombie Fattie.
Hasslefree Adventurer - Grant
Zombicide zombie Runner.
RAFM USX Survivor - Hanna, or as I call her, Hannah Vaughn.
Zombicide zombie Abomination.
Studio Miniatures Survivor - Ohio.
I think you'll agree that they match up well with all of the figures I've featured. This photo also gives you a good indication of just how tall the Abomination is.
What I did not anticipate were requests for a group shot of all of my Zombicide figures. The best I can do is show you this in game shot from one of the (many) scenarios that Mathyoo and I played.

Five of the six survivors are grouped together in the road square with the black and yellow triangular Noise Marker. Doug is on his own in the room at the top right hand corner, collecting one of the objectives for the scenario. At this point it looks pretty grim for the heroes but most of them made it to the end. Wendy was their only casualty, swarmed by zombies when the Walkers got an extra turn.

Sunday, 19 May 2013

The fourth and final type of zombie to be found in Zombicide is the Abomination. You can only ever encounter one Abomination at a time, which is a good thing, as they are incredibly hard to kill. He can only be killed by weapons that do three or more points of damage and in Zombicide that means just one weapon - the Molotov Cocktail. However, the players must first find an empty bottle and a can of gasoline from the equipment deck to make the Molotov Cocktail, which can be quite frustrating. If during the game, a second Abomination is spawned it is replaced with a Fattie and two Walkers.

The Abomination is a unique figure in the game. He is also the tallest figure, standing 37mm from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Large spikes protrude from his body and he has the look of someone who has been experimented on and created in a laboratory. Note the camera slung around his neck - totally incongruous! His mouth is filled with sharp, pointy teeth. There are no wounds on him, however, I have smeared his mouth, chin, neck, upper torso and hands with blood to show that he has been feeding. That blood looks very fresh, doesn't it?

Like all of the other figures in the game he is mounted on a 25mm diameter base, but I felt this looked a bit too small for him. So, I glued him to a 30mm diameter wooden MDF base I had. This adds another couple of millimetres to his height, but I don't think that is a bad thing.
I think he is a great sculpt. He just exudes menace. Whilst I am generally not a fan of this type of modified "super zombie" he does serve a very useful purpose in the Zombicide game. Would I use him in a game of ATZ-FFO? Hmm, unlikely, but if the scenario justified it, and that's a big if, then possibly, yes.

Wednesday, 15 May 2013

Time to review the third type of zombie from the Zombicide board-game - the Fatties. These obese zombies are a lot tougher than the Walker and Runner types. It takes two wounds to kill a Fattie and it is an all or nothing deal. If you have a weapon that only inflicts one point of damage, Fatties just shrug it off. You have to be armed with a weapon that inflicts two points of damage to kill a Fattie. As if this wasn't bad enough, whenever a Fattie arrives on the board at a Spawn Point, it brings with him, two Walkers. So now you're facing three zombies instead of just one. Fatties are quite a threat to the survivors. Fortunately, they are quite rare and there are only 8 in the game, all the same sculpt. Here are the first four that I've painted.

Fatties are taller than Walkers and Runners. You'll see just how taller when I run my size comparison photo.They are dressed in coveralls, which have been rolled down to the waist, a nice touch in my opinion. They also wear vests and have an oxygen mask around their necks (the kind used by DIY enthusiasts or people who live in smog filled cities). They also have a tool pouch hanging on their right thigh.
The Fattie at the far left has a wound to the right side of his belly. He wears orange coveralls, suggesting he might have been a former prisoner. Incidentally, this is the colour scheme of the Fattie that is illustrated in the rulebook.
To his left is a Fattie wearing dark grey coveralls. He shows no wounds but his hands are smeared in blood and blood has trickled from his mouth when he fed on a victim.

The Fattie in the navy blue coveralls has been slightly converted by me. I removed his oxygen mask and I made his belly even fatter. He has also been feeding. Blood covers his mouth, chin, neck and hands. He has a deep slash wound across his belly.
At the far right of this group is an African/American Fattie and he too, has been feeding upon a victim. I gave him orange overalls just like the first Fattie in line but his gloves are black, not leather coloured.
I must admit that I love these sculpts. I have always had a soft spot for obese zombies and these are so cool. For once, I cannot criticise the sculpting of them. They are damned near perfect.
Until I bought the Zombicide game, I always associated the term "Fatties" with the world of Judge Dredd. Now Mega City One Fatties really are obese. Just think of the legendary "Two Ton Tony" Tubbs! Yes, that was his weight! These guys might not match up to the obesity levels of their futuristic namesakes, but I still like them.

Sunday, 12 May 2013

In Zombicide, there are four types of zombie. I have already looked at the most common type - the Walkers. The next most common type are the Runners. As their name suggests, these are faster than Walkers. Whereas the other three types of zombie are only allowed one action per turn (attack or movement), Runners are allowed two actions per turn. These actions could be the same (double movement) or a combination (move then attack). Runners are your fast moving zombies as found in the likes of the remake of Dawn of the Dead and the upcoming World War Z films. Just to make sure that you can't be in any doubt that these figures are Runners, they have been sculpted in running gear. Subtle, huh?

The 16 Runners included with the game are split into two poses, with 8 figures in each pose. I gave the Runner at the far left of this group a bullet wound to his upper right chest, which has just missed his shoulder. His hands are covered in the blood of a victim.
The next Runner in line has suffered from a bite wound to his left arm. These Runners are all bald-headed, which nicely gets round my criticism of the Walkers having poorly defined hair.

The third Runner in this group has blood from a victim smeared over his mouth, chin, neck and hands. He is a messy eater!
Finally, is another of my African/American zombies. He has suffered a massive wound to his stomach

I painted the skin tones of my Caucasian Runners with Foundry Cadaverous Green 46, which is the colour I use on the flesh of my ATZ Ragers.
The Runner at the far left of this second group has also been feeding on a victim and he has blood on his hands and blood dribbling from his mouth. Note that the wire seen on his chest belongs to an iPod.
The Runner in green has been bitten/shot/stabbed in the neck and blood has run down his torso.

The third Runner in line is another feeder, with loads of blood around his lower face, neck and chest. Rather surprisingly, he has no blood on his hands.
The last figure in this group is another African/American. He has blood smeared on his hands but nowhere else.
These are very animated figures with a real sense of movement to them. There is no mistaking these for Walkers. Despite their speed, Runners are just as easy to kill as Walkers. One wound is all it takes to kill them.
As with the Walkers, my main criticism of these Runners is the way their fingers have been sculpted. It is no secret that I am not a fan of zombies that can sprint like Olympic athletes. I'm strictly old school and I much prefer the slow-moving Walkers. That said, these Runners do provide an acceptable challenge in the game. The fact that they get an extra action means you have to think tactics when they are nearby. The worst thing that can happen with Runners is when you draw the card from the Zombie Spawning deck that allows them an extra turn. That's usually lethal!

Wednesday, 8 May 2013

Having looked at the male Walkers from the Zombicide board-game last time, it is now the turn of the female Walkers to shuffle into the spotlight. The females come in two poses and consist of eight of each pose. I must admit that these are a rather sexy bunch of zombies, if ever such an adjective can be applied to a walking corpse. What they all have in common is a penchant for showing off their panties. Now being a zombie, it is highly unlikely that they even care that their lingerie is on display. But still, I do wonder what went through the mind of the sculptor when he created these figures!

At the far left of this group is a female Walker wearing a brown jacket, a sandy coloured dress and sandy coloured shoes. I painted her with no obvious wounds. After all, not every zombie will show bloody wounds. So from the front she looks okay apart from her unhealthy skin colouring. From behind just check out where the hole in her skirt is located - right over her bum crack! Fortunately for her, she did remember to put her panties on.
For the Walker in the pink outfit, I decided to cover up the hole in the back of her dress with a bit of modelling putty. I just didn't want all of this group to have the same wardrobe malfunction. Her mouth, chin and neck are smeared in blood, but I suspect the blood came from a victim she fed on.

For the Walker in the pale lilac outfit I decided to make the hole in her dress the location of a bite wound. This helps create variety amongst the group. Her right hand is smeared in blood and she has left a bloody hand-print on the front of her dress.
The fourth Walker in line was painted as an African/American, hence her darker skin tone.She was shot between her breasts and blood has spurted out of the wound. Her white panties are a stark contrast against her brown skin.

The final batch of female Walkers are even more blatantly suggestive than the last lot. These ladies have had the front of their skirts ripped away. How unfortunate and how revealing!
For the Walker at the far left of the group, I decided not to give her any obvious wounds. I also decided to give her a suspender belt to go with her stockings. Her stockings have been holed in a few places.
The Walker in the red dress and purple jacket has been bitten in the left cheek and her hands are smeared in blood. I almost gave her red panties but at the last moment I decided that white would be a better contrast.

The Walker in the green jacket has been bitten in the lower left leg. Blood is smeared over her mouth, chin, neck and hands. Her panties are pink and she is wearing Stay-Up tights, so she doesn't need a suspender belt.
Finally, is another African/American female. She was bitten in the left shoulder and has bled profusely from the wound. Her hands are coated in blood, possibly her own or possibly from a victim.
As with the male Walkers, the detail on their hair and hands could be better defined. I really have no idea as to why the females have been so blatantly sexualised. It doesn't bother me that much but it is not something I'd expect to see in this day and age of sexual equality. Perhaps it's a French thing. Guillotine Games, who make the Zombicide game are a French company.

Sunday, 5 May 2013

The most common type of zombie in the Zombicide board-game is the Walker. These are your bog-standard, slow-moving zombies. They are easy to kill and easy to dodge, unless they appear in large numbers.The boxed set contains 40 of them in five different poses. Three of the poses depict males and they are what I'll be reviewing today. The female walkers will get their turn in the spotlight next time.

We start with a group of four zombie Walkers, dressed in short-sleeved shirts, ties and trousers. They could be office workers or shop assistants. Who knows or cares?
The Walker at the far left has a large bite wound to his left arm and blood has spattered onto his shirt.
The Walker next to him, in the blue shirt, has been bitten in his left cheek and in the left arm around his elbow.

The third Walker in line has suffered a similar cheek wound and a left arm wound similar to the first guy.
To add a bit of variety to the colour schemes of my zombies, I painted one of each as an African/American zombie and in all of my review photos he/she will be the fourth in line. This particular Walker suffered a bite wound to the right arm.

The second batch of Walkers are more smartly dressed in two-piece suits, shirts and ties.
At the far left is a Walker in a dark grey suit. He has bite wounds to his right arm, lower right leg and a gunshot wound to his stomach.
The Walker in the dark brown suit has similar wounds to his right arm and right leg.

Third in line is my black-suited Walker and you can see from this view just how badly torn his coat sleeve and trouser leg are. He also has a small wound to his left shoulder, which I accidentally missed when I painted the previous two.
Finally, is my bald-headed African/American Walker and he has the same three wounds as the previous Walker.

The third batch of male Walkers are casually dressed in vests and trousers.
The Walker at the far left has been bitten in the right arm and in the back of his lower right leg. I decided to paint his trousers as a pair of slightly faded denim jeans.
For the second Walker in line, I decided to do something different and I gave him a gaping neck wound in addition to his leg wound. His left hand is smeared with blood.

I went to work with my modelling putty on the next Walker in line and I converted his vest into a T-shirt. It was a very simple conversion but it makes him stand out. The design on the front of his T-shirt is the logo for Guillotine Games, the creators of Zombicide. It seemed so appropriate to do it! His only wound is the bite to his right leg.
I gave the African/American walker a neck wound as well, although in a slightly different position to the second Walker in this group. Once again, he has the bite wound to his lower right leg.
When you get a bunch of zombies in identical poses you are left with three choices. First, paint them all the same. Boring in my opinion. Second, paint them all differently to make them appear as a group of individuals. Third, convert them. I only converted one out of this group - the guy in the T-shirt. I will convert the others but I'm not sure when.
These are quite reasonably sculpted and all appear to be very slim. That's not a bad thing for zombies. The hair on the heads could be better defined, as could the fingers on their hands. I have no criticisms with their poses. So far, I have only painted half of the zombies in the boxed set. When I get the second batch painted I will review them.

Wednesday, 1 May 2013

We start the month of May with a detailed look at the board-game that has captured the hearts (and wallets!) of a lot of zombie gaming fans - Zombicide by Guillotine Games. As you probably know, I came into this game rather late, and missed out on all of the season 1 offers and special edition figures when the game was launched on Kickstarter last year. I bitterly regret my decision not to support the game due to me not wanting to get ripped of by the thieves at the UK's Customs and Excises department. Being assured that such a thing would not happen when Season 2 was launched earlier this year I made up for my previous mistake by supporting the game with gusto. I ended up pledging $400.00 to Guillotine Games. Money well spent in my opinion.
I'll take a close look at the game later this month, but first I want to review the figures that come with the game. The figures are roughly 30mm in size. I will post a size comparison shot for you after I've posted my reviews. I shall start with the six survivors that come with the game and here they are. Note that I have arranged the figures alphabetically from Amy to Wanda.

At the far left of the group is Amy the Goth Girl. She is armed with a Katana and a Sawn-Off Shotgun. Each character starts the game with a special ability known as a Skill. As they kill more zombies, they gain further Skills. Amy starts with +1 free Move Action, which allows her to move four times in a turn (if she wanted) instead of three. The second Skill that everyone gains is always +1 Action, which can be used as they please.
Doug the Office Guy is armed with a pair of Uzi Sub-Machine Guns and has a pair of pistols tucked into his pants. His starting skill is Matching Set. This means that whenever he draws a card with the Dual Weapon symbol, he can immediately search the Equipment deck for a second card of the same type. This makes Doug a great killing machine from the outset.
Moving on, we come to Josh the Street Thug. He certainly knows how to survive in these mean streets and this is reflected in his starting skill - Slippery. This allows him to move through a Zone that contains zombies, without having to spend extra Actions to avoid them. He is armed with a pair of Pistols and a Machete.

Fourth in line is Crazy Ned, a homeless guy full of street smarts. He is armed with a Rifle with a fitted Scope-sight, a Baseball Bat and a Frying Pan. Yes, the Frying Pan is a weapon and is dealt out to the three unlucky survivors who don't start the game with an Axe, a Crowbar or a Pistol. It only hits on the roll of a 6 on 1d6 and is usually the first item to be ditched whenever a survivor finds something better. His starting Skill is +1 free Search Action. This action can only be used to search and like all Search Actions can only be used once per turn.
Next up is Phil the Cop, who is armed with a Shotgun and a Pistol. Phil's initial Skill is Starts with a Pistol. This card is always assigned to him before the game begins. It does not count against the six weapons assigned to the group at the start of the game, so if Phil is included in your party, they'll automatically start off with two pistols for the group. By the way, does anyone else think that Phil would make a great figure for Shane Walsh from The Walking Dead?
Finally, we come to Wanda the Waitress, who wears a pair of roller skates and who is armed with a Chainsaw and a Sawn-Off Shotgun. Because of her roller skates, she starts the game with the Skill of 2 Zones per Move Action, meaning that whenever she spends one Action to Move, she can move one or two Zones (her choice) instead of only one. This makes her very mobile and a great scout. Arming her with a Chainsaw can be a game-winning tactic as we discovered on many an occasion..
When I recently played with Mathyoo, Amy was his favourite character, followed by Doug and Ned. My favourite character was Wanda (especially if she acquired a Chainsaw!), followed by Phil and Josh. We once tried switching characters and it just didn't feel right so these were the three survivors that we chose in the majority of our games.
One thing that you've surely noticed about my figures is that they have all been given textured bases. This is the same texturing and colour scheme that I use for all of my other 28mm scale figures. I wanted to do this so that I could use these figures in my games of ATZ. After all, they are nicely sculpted figures, so why limit them to just the board-game?
Finally, I'd like to reassure those of you worried about how well the figures take acrylic paint and because they are made of plastic, are they too bendy? These figures are made of a hard plastic that holds its shape very well. I primed them in black acrylic paint and they painted up a treat. The photos show the figures after Mathyoo and I had gamed with them about a dozen times or more and as you can see, they show no flaking or damage whatsoever.